Brian Smith to join England.

Amongst the furore of Duvet-gate, according to the Daily Telegraph, Rob Andrew reveals that London Irish Head Coach Brian Smith is to join the England set up to head the coaching set-up.

Elsewhere, after a fashion, England were still attempting to prepare for a Test match and for a future beyond New Zealand. Over a coffee in the hotel lobby, Andrew confirmed that London Irish's Brian Smith will soon head England's coaching set-up under Martin Johnson, and that the new pay deal, offering players an Â£8,000 fixed match payment plus a Â£3,000 win bonus replacing the Â£9,000 flat fee currently on offer, was in place.[/b]

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Why are do we find it so hard to hire someone to work as a backs coach? Is it some genetic condition? I'd like to have Brian Ashton back as backs coach...

If he's the guy who helps make the Irish backline as dangerous as they have been this past season, then I think this could be the year that England really make some things happen in the backs. Agree that Brian Ashton had been good in this role back in the Woodward era, but I think he was exposed when he became THE head man.

I think Smith will be given some nice tools to work with, like Barkley, Ojo, Simpson-Daniel, Cipriani, Geraghty, Flood and the likes of them which could make things very interesting come 6N's time.